Red-necked stint

The red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) belongs to the family of sandpipers, curlews and stints, the Scolopacidae.
The red-necked stint is distributed in Alaska, northeast Russia, southeast China, southeast Asia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. The stint species is fully migratory. The stint species is monotypic.

Appearance, physical description and identification

The red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) is a small wader, measuring 12 to 17 cm in length and weighing 20 to 50 grams. The wingspan is 30 to 35 cm.
The breeding red-necked stint has reddish face, cheek and throat. The crown is pale with fine dark brown striations. There is grayish lore. The upperparts are whitish with dark brown and rufous patterns.

In wintering red-necked stint the neck and the face are whitish. The lore is paler. The upperparts are grayish brown with large leaf-like patterns. The underbelly and undertail are white in both the forms.

The bill is long, sharp and dark. The legs and feet are blackish. The irises are blackish brown. There is a pale eye-ring. The red-necked stint call is a sharp, loud "quik.. quik", "queek.. queek" and "chripp.. chripp" sound.

1.Red-necked stint - Calidris ruficollisImage by Alpsdake

2.Red-necked stint - Calidris ruficollisImage by Alpsdake

3.Red-necked stint - Calidris ruficollisImage by Alpsdake

Origin, geographical range and distribution

The breeding populations of the red-necked stint are distributed in Arctic and subarctic northeast Russia and northwest and west Alaska.

Diet and feeding behavior

The diet of the red-necked stint species consists mainly of small invertebrates. Insects, insect larvae, beetles, sawflies, wasps, bees, ants and small seeds are their primary food.

Reproduction and breeding habits

The breeding season of the red-necked stint species is during May and June in most of their breeding range. They are monogamous and territorial. They may breed in loose colonies.

The breeding habitats include low altitude montane tundra and tundra grasslands. The nest is a shallow depression on the ground.

Migration and movement patterns

These red-necked stint species are fully migratory birds. The breeding populations occur in northeast Arctic and subarctic Russia and sporadically in north and west Alaska (USA).

These stint species leave breeding grounds during August-September to winter in coastal regions of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, southern China, Australia and New Zealand.

The return migration to the breeding grounds takes place from mid-April to early May. During migration, these birds pass through stopover sites in Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China and southeast Asia.

Conservation and survival

The global population size of the red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) is estimated to be about 315,000 individual birds by Wetlands International in 2015. The overall population trend of the species is reported to be declining.

In most of its range, this stint species is reported to be uncommon to rare. The generation length is 7.5 years. Its breeding and wintering distribution size is about 3,360,000 sq.km.

Ecosystem degradation, ecosystem conversion, severe weather, climate change, habitat loss at stopover sites, hunting and pollution are the main threats that may endanger the survival of the stint species.

IUCN and CITES status

The red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) species is approaching the thresholds for being Vulnerable under the range size criterion, under the population trend criterion and under the population size criterion.

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has categorized and evaluated the species and has listed it as "Near Threatened (NT)".

The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) status is ‘Not Evaluated’ for the red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis).

Taxonomy and scientific classification of Calidris ruficollis

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Charadriiformes

Family:

Scolopacidae

Subfamily:

-

Genus:

Calidris

Species:

C. ruficollis

Binomial name:

Calidris ruficollis

IUCN status listing:

Near Threatened

The red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) was earlier included in the genus Erolia. It has close resemblance to the little stint (Calidris minuta).